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Should Value Investors Buy Oceaneering International (OII) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One stock to keep an eye on is Oceaneering International (OII - Free Report) . OII is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 15.58 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 16.96. Over the past 52 weeks, OII's Forward P/E has been as high as 93.92 and as low as 13.49, with a median of 28.47.

Another notable valuation metric for OII is its P/B ratio of 2.10. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. OII's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.63. Within the past 52 weeks, OII's P/B has been as high as 3.39 and as low as 1.76, with a median of 2.42.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. OII has a P/S ratio of 0.53. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.78.

Investors could also keep in mind Schlumberger (SLB - Free Report) , an Oil and Gas - Field Services stock with a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) and Value grade of A.

Shares of Schlumberger currently holds a Forward P/E ratio of 14.71, and its PEG ratio is 0.32. In comparison, its industry sports average P/E and PEG ratios of 16.96 and 0.45.

Over the last 12 months, SLB's P/E has been as high as 26.75, as low as 14.53, with a median of 18.69, and its PEG ratio has been as high as 0.47, as low as 0.31, with a median of 0.35.

Additionally, Schlumberger has a P/B ratio of 3.02 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 2.63. For SLB, this valuation metric has been as high as 4.48, as low as 2.75, with a median of 3.36 over the past year.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Oceaneering International and Schlumberger are likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, OII and SLB sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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